NEWS

Zagreb. On June 12th, 2012, the Kick-off event for the project Improving the Quality of In-Service Teacher Training System was held at the Business Centre FORUM in Zagreb.

At the presentation on the 12th of June 2012 of the newly started Technical Assistance project “Improving the Quality of In‐Service Teacher Training System”, Vinko Filipović, Director of the Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA), stressed in his opening speech the importance of building capacity in the Education and Teacher Training Agency for the development of an improved in‐service training for teachers, expert advisors and school principals in Croatia, based on a new in‐service teacher training Strategy 2014 – 2020, to be developed with the support of the project in order to improve the quality of general education. Ankica Nježić, Assistant Minister of Science, Education and Sports, addressed the importance of teacher in‐service training for improving the quality of Education. Luigi M. Barile, First Counsellor in the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Croatia, addressed the importance of the project in relation to one of the mid‐term priorities for the EU strategic framework “Education and Training 2020” for the period 2012‐2014, which is professional development of teachers, trainers and school leaders.

Paul Roeders, the Project Team Leader, placed teacher in‐service training within a broader European perspective of continuing professional development and analysed important elements to enhance the quality and efficiency of inservice training for teachers and non‐teaching staff. Sanja Urek, Assistant Director of the ETTA, and Sanja Milović, Project Manager at the ETTA, explained the participants the importance of this project implemented within the IPA Component IV, Human Resources Development, and its purposes and expected outcomes. The project Technical Assistance team presented the activities and expected results of the project. The project serves the purpose to build the capacity of ETTA for the development of an improved in‐service teacher training system for educators, teachers, expert associates and school managers in the Republic of Croatia, which will be based on the new ETTA teacher training strategy 2014 ‐ 2020. The design of a modern system of in‐service teacher training that encourages the professional development of teaching and non‐teaching staff in general education is a highly important element in the improvement of the quality of general education as a whole, from which non‐teaching staff in schools, the teachers, their students and the whole society will benefit.

The implementation of this 1,200,000 euro project started in May 2012 and will last until April 2014. It is implemented by a consortium led by SPAN Consultants from the Netherlands with the Education and Teacher Training Agency as the main project partner.

The major expected project results are:

Assessment of the training needs of Pre‐primary, primary and secondary school teachers;

Development of the in‐service teacher training strategy 2014‐2020 of the Education and Teacher Training Agency;

Designing an improved and quality‐based in‐service teacher training system on the basis of the strategy 2014‐2020 and ready for implementation.

The presentation of the project brought together representatives of regional offices of the Education and Teacher Training Agency, primary and secondary schools from almost all Croatia, as well as representatives from the Croatian Government and Agencies in the education sector.